


Opposites

by kracken



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Action, Awkward Romance, Canon-Typical Violence, Idiots in Love, M/M, Preventers (Gundam Wing), Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-12
Updated: 2013-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 12:29:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13951572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kracken/pseuds/kracken
Summary: Duo is in love with Heero and Heero is in love with Duo, but their skill at romance has a lot to be desired.





	1. Duck and Cover

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. With Kracken's permission, I began manually importing her works to the AO3 as part of an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017.

"Say something."  
  
Duo jumped and then glared at Sally Po. "Don't sneak up on me!"  
  
She laughed. "I was just walking down the hallway. I was hardly 'sneaking'."  
  
Duo jammed his hands in his overall pockets and hid his blush under the brim of his hat. At eighteen, he still looked the same as when he had been a fifteen year old Gundam pilot: Long in the leg, a little wide in the shoulders, and a face that was cheekbone and all smile. That smile, for once, was twisted into a grimace.  
  
"Why don't you talk to him?" Sally urged.  
  
"Because he doesn't want to talk to me," Duo retorted. "He never did. I'm not his kind of people."  
  
She sighed in exasperation at his shyness and odd lack of self esteem, at least in this area, and peered around the corner of the hallway to look at the object of Duo's scrutiny. She ducked back not a moment later, looking guilty. "He saw me and he's coming this way," she warned breathlessly, but when turned, she found Duo already retreating quickly down the hallway with his armload of packages.  
  
"Something wrong?" Heero asked in his cool voice.  
  
"Uh, no," Sally dissembled as she turned to him and gave him her best 'innocent eyes'.  
  
Heero had grown taller, since the war, and his face had settled into more mature lines. His dark gaze was still brooding, though, and he looked very dangerous and capable in his crisp Preventer uniform. Imposing, Sally thought, and could easily put herself in Duo's position; afraid, but appreciative of the man's dark, good looks.   
  
"Are you waiting for someone?" Heero persisted, as if Sally's actions were suspect. Perhaps they were. As head of the terrorist task force, looking for anything out of the ordinary was his job. His gaze swept past her and down the hallway. "I thought that I saw Duo..."  
  
"He's delivering packages," Sally said quickly. "He has clearance."  
  
"I know that," Heero retorted softly. His eyes stayed on the end of the hallway as if he could see Duo in another part of the building somehow. "Security logs tell me that he delivers packages almost every day. I find it strange that I almost never see him, though."  
  
Sally stifled an urge to look surprised. She kept her voice casual as she asked, "Did you want to see him?"  
  
Heero suddenly brought his dark blue eyes back to her. Something flickered across his face. Sally was almost sure that it was the barest hint of embarrassment.   
  
"I'm almost certain he's avoiding me," Heero finally replied.  
  
"Well, you are..." Sally searched for a non threatening descriptive word. "... rather... intimi... imposing... in your position."  
  
Heero frowned, but then his face smoothed out into something that was an attempt at blankness. "I see," he said softly.  
  
"Do you?" Sally wondered in a knowing voice, quirking an eyebrow at him.  
  
Heero looked at her in confusion, "Is this... Are you hinting at something?"  
  
Sally crossed her arms over her chest and glared in exasperation. "Apparently not. So, why do you think Duo is avoiding you? Do you think he's secretly pursuing his terrorist ways and is afraid you'll get wind of it and arrest him?"  
  
"No," Heero replied with certainty.  
  
"Because...," Sally prompted.  
  
"He's on a regular schedule of observation," Heero replied matter-of-factly, "Everyone with high level ties to the war is on the list."  
  
"Including me?" Sally asked with some trepidation.  
  
"Of course," Heero replied.  
  
Sally grunted sourly, "can see why Duo's afraid of you now. Maybe he's better off..." Sally stopped and then sighed, attempting to keep her temper under control. "You really out to sit down and have coffee with the man, Heero, instead of planting listening devices and hidden cameras."  
  
"I..." Heero's _expression was almost vulnerable and then it closed shut like a trap and became as blank as stone. "I have work to do."  
  
Sally snorted as she watched Heero go. "Idiots."   
  
+  
  
"Running from Yuy again?" Wu Fei asked as he passed Duo in the hall. Duo ducked down under his hat brim and clutched his packages tighter. Wu Fei sneered. "Coward."  
  
"Asshole," Duo growled back as if his response was automatic and well used, but then he shoved two packages into Wu Fei's arms. "These are yours."  
  
"Interesting service approach," Wu Fe observed dryly. "Insult your customer and deliver an hour late."  
  
"It's in one piece," Duo snapped back. "Try another service and see what you get."  
  
"Duo," Wu Fei sighed, suddenly becoming more serious."This fascination with Yuy is unrealistic. He is a war hero, celebrated in space and on Earth. He is a top Preventer agent with a very important position. You can't expect someone... even though you were a Gundam pilot... to be interested in..." He let the sentence end unfinished, knowing that Duo knew what he was trying to say. It was, after all, an old argument.  
  
Duo looked pained, but then his _expression firmed defiently. "Okay, so I didn't stay in Preventers."  
  
"You were discharged," Wu Fei reminded him.  
  
Duo's jaw worked, "Okay, yeah... but..."  
  
"You are a delivery man," Wu Fei pointed out. "Without any claim to fame in even that respect. You are mediocre, and that's being kind, and you have squandered all of the opportunities afforded to you. You can't expect Heero to want to associate..." Duo's hot glare made him stop. Wu Fei finished strongly, wanting to drive his point home hard enough to stick, "and you don't even know his sexual orientation."  
  
"Yes, I do," Duo replied with heated certainty. "Whatever you think, Heero's only human. Guys 'look', Fei, and Heero wasn't giving the 'look' to any women that I saw."  
  
"Was he 'looking' at you, then?" Wu Fei wondered in distaste. This was not the way that he wanted the conversation to turn.  
  
Duo shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, but he answered honestly, "No, Danforth in accounting was bending over to get some water from the cooler. Heero was admiring the view."  
  
"And you were hiding behind a corner again, or was it a potted plant that time?" Wu Fei wondered sarcastically.  
  
"Ha, ha," Duo bit out. "Think I'll be going now, Fei. It hasn't been fun."  
  
Wu Fei said, very serious, "Duo, it's been years since you were discharged. You are more mature. I do believe that you could attempt Preventers again and do well, if you applied yourself. You could make yourself worthy of Heero's notice."  
  
Duo shook his head sharply. "No! I couldn't keep pulling that trigger, Fei. That's why I was discharged. I'd rather deliver packages to bastard agents."  
  
Wu Fei looked irritated and then he waved a hand curtly in dismissal. "Then perhaps you should hurry? I think that top package is for Noin."  
  
"I've been trying to go, but someone keeps talking," Duo growled back and then took off down the corridor.  
  
+  
  
Noin was walking around her office, nose in a report. She gestured to her desk without looking up from her work and said distractedly, "There. Thanks, Duo."  
  
Duo put her package down on the desk top. "Welcome, ma'am," he replied, tipping his hat with a nervous twitch of his fingers as he hurried back out of her office. Noin always made him nervous. She seemed so much older than he was and so much more self assured. He couldn't forget that they had once been enemies as well.  
  
At the front security desk, Duo began to breathe a sigh of relief. Once again, he had managed to get his job done, catch a glimpse of Heero, and avoid having the man see him in return. He considered that a good day.  
  
"Duo?" An elderly security officer called just before his hand touched the front, glass doors of the building. He looked back. The woman smiled at him sweetly. "Heero Yuy would like a package delivered. He requests that you see him in his office as soon as possible, please."  
  
Duo cringed inwardly. "Uh..." Words failed him. He wiped his suddenly sweating hands on his uniform. "O-okay," he was finally able to squeak, and began walking back into the building, his mind scrambling for what to do next.  
  
He knows, Duo thought... or he doesn't. He glanced up at the security cameras along the corridors and wondered if Heero was watching him. It made his shoulders twitch. In and out of the war, he'd never liked being watched, recorded, and filed away somewhere for future reference. It went against everything that he had learned in his rough life to be a blip on anyone's map.  
  
Heero's office. The door was open, like a trap ready to spring. Duo swallowed hard and tried to banish that impression. Heero was just a man, like any other man... who could kill with every part of his body, blow up thee installations in an afternoon, and snap metal in half like rice paper. Duo stopped walking. He wondered if he could just quite his job and run for it.  
  
It wasn't as if he were afraid, physically, of the man, Duo thought. More like... intimidated. He seemed larger than life... powerful... handsome... secure... absolutely sure of who he was and where he was going in life. He was the letter of the law. Super Preventer. Une's star. Heero the hero.  
  
Duo straightened his clothes self consciously and raked fingers through his tangled bangs. He'd been a lot more cock sure during the war, so sure that Heero was as much of a nobody as he was. Things were different now. He'd tried to climb that same ladder of opportunity, but he hadn't been cut out for rules and regulations and wearing a tie and a badge every day.  
  
Duo cleared his throat and stepped into Heero's office.  
  
There was a small box on the edge of Heero's desk, lined up with the corner as if he had taken a ruler out and measured. Duo felt a bit of relief, but Heero's dark blue eyes were regarding him and they were as hot and as unreadable as ever.  
  
"Do you have something for me?" Duo asked and then stammered, "A-A package? Do you have a package for me..? Uhm..." He stopped and blushed, his mind filling in a dozen innuendos to go along with his words. He choked out, blushing furiously, "A delivery? They said you had a delivery?"  
  
Heero was frowning and then he said, "The package isn't very large, a quick delivery..."He stopped and there was a faint blush on his cheeks as he reached out and touched the box. He cleared his throat. "Here."  
  
"O-okay," Duo was looking down at his feet, anywhere but at Heero. The man must think that he was a class A idiot now, if he didn't before.  
  
Duo picked up the box and tucked it under his arm. "Will do.... uh... later." He turned and began to walk out of the office, but Heero's voice stopped him.  
  
"Delivery service... It just doesn't seem like you," Heero said, puzzled. "Are you... doing well?"  
  
Duo's smart mouth engaged, trying to save him from death by embarrassment "Yeah, I'm at the top of my field," he replied with a chuckle, "Nobody takes packages, from point A to point B, like me. Really, it's the best career move I ever made."  
  
Heero stared at Duo's back, at the long braid that trembled slightly with the tension in his shoulders. Duo wasn't joking, no matter what his tone implied, Heero decided. "I didn't mean..." he began, but Duo was already walking away. He sat back in his chair and swore under his breath. Why had it been so hard to talk to Duo?  
  
Wu Fei, who had been standing near the door, followed after Duo and said, "Pathetic."  
  
Duo glared back at him, but didn't stop walking. "So, you're the office snitch, besides being an agent?"  
  
"Only on my coffee break," Wu Fei replied, "and especially when Heero Yuy asks if I have any packages to deliver. You can give that back to me by the way. It's a stapler."  
  
Duo tossed the package over his shoulder and Wu Fei caught it deftly.  
  
"You are going to ask me why he wanted to see you?" Wu Fei pressed with a raised eyebrow.  
  
Duo's jaw worked as he was forced to stop for the elevator. "I know why. He wanted to see what a loser I was up close, just like you do."  
  
Wu Fei sighed and then asked in exasperation, "Do you consider yourself a loser?"  
  
Duo glared sideways at him. "No."  
  
"Then what does it matter what we think?" Wu Fei wondered. Duo was silent. "Maybe it only matters what Heero thinks?" Wu Fei pried.  
  
Duo looked down at his feet. The doors of the elevator opened and he stepped inside. He reached back and kept the doors from closing. "Okay... why?"  
  
"Why?" Wu Fei echoed in a mocking tone, enjoying his moment of power.  
  
"Why... Why did Heero want to pretend to deliver a package?" Duo wanted to punch Wu Fei, especially when the man refused to reply until he looked at him.  
  
Wu Fei sighed and then replied, "Maybe he just wanted to see you."  
  
"I already said that!" Duo retorted angrily.  
  
"No, you didn't," Wu Fei replied.  
  
Duo made a frustrated noise and then let the doors close.  
  
Wu Fei muttered, "Pathetic."


	2. Teasing

"Heero's coming."  
  
Duo wheeled and looked wildly behind them. Quatre Winner laughed and Duo scowled as he regained his composure. "That wasn't funny!"  
  
"Yes it was," Quatre smirked. "My friend, I never imagined that there was something in Space or on Earth that could make Shinigami shake in his boots."  
  
"I'm not afraid of Heero," Duo grumbled as they turned a corner and entered the executive dinning room of an elite establishment.  
  
Quatre motioned with a polite finger and several waiters, and the manager of the establishment, descended on them. "Table for two, in your private room."  
  
"Ashamed of being seen with me?" Duo wondered, but it was said in a distracted tone, the jibe an old one.  
  
"I'm ashamed of being seen in this dive," Quatre returned automatically. "I can't imagine why you like it when we could go anywhere."  
  
"They have steaks, plain, honest to goodness, steaks with potatoes," Duo replied as their new entourage ushered them into a posh back room that looked ready to receive a prince. "My taste buds recognize it as food, unlike those five star french disasters that serve food that doesn't even look like food."  
  
"I like french," Quatre said almost petulantly and then smiled warmly at Duo as they sat down.  
  
"The usual," Duo announced and the waiter made a small bow. Quatre sighed and looked over the menu. He named a complicated dish that had Duo blinking. Duo looked down at his menu as the manager and the waiters retreated. "Whatever that was, it's not on the menu."  
  
Quatre shrugged, "They'll get it for me, don't worry."  
  
"I wasn't worrying," Duo snorted as he put away his menu and fiddled with a fork.  
  
Quatre regarded him. "So..?" he finally prompted.  
  
Duo glared. "Sally has a big mouth."  
  
"She worries, and so do I," Quatre replied. He loosened his tie. He still looked very young in his business suit, like a child playing in his father's clothes. That was almost true. He still strove to fill his father's place. The stress of that task often had him running away, with Duo as his favorite companion, when it became too much for him. Duo reminded him of many things, Quatre often told him; who he was, who he used to be, his duty, and that his life and decisions were, as much as everyone tried to tell him differently, his own.  
  
"Look," Duo finally replied, stabbing idly at the very expensive tablecloth with the tines of his fork, "I can take care of myself. Always have."  
  
Quatre raised eyebrows.  
  
Duo frowned back at him, "Okay, most of the time."  
  
"How long has it been? " Quatre asked. "If all you're going to do is stare at him from around corners at Preventer Headquarters, you might as well have some one vid tape him for you. It's the same thing."  
  
"I did talk to him today, so a lot you know," Duo snorted.  
  
"We are adults, aren't we?" Quatre retorted.  
  
"Last I checked," Duo muttered under his breath.  
  
"The problem is, that you are not the only one who is checking," Quatre shot back.  
  
Duo went red in shock. "Did you just say what I think you did?"  
  
Quatre smiled. "Do I have your attention now?"  
  
Duo sunk into his chair. "Yes."  
  
"Either approach the man properly, or stop stalking him, that's my advice," Quatre told him. "You can't go on like this. Either take a chance, or let it go and get on with your life."  
  
"Get on with my life?" Duo repeated in confusion. "I thought I was."  
  
Quatre looked disgusted, "A delivery man? We both know why you took that job. Since you couldn't see Heero as an agent, you chose a job that allows you nearly the same access to the building... and to Heero."

Duo glared. "That's where you're wrong. I like my job."  
  
"Really?" Quatre asked skeptically.  
  
"Really," Duo shot back. When Quatre reached out and took the fork away from him, Duo said irritably, "Isn't my love life against your religious rules, or something? Shouldn't you be shocked and wanting to stone me, instead of trying to help me with it?"  
  
"Who told you that?" Quatre replied in annoyance."This isn't the stone age."  
  
"Is that why you don't you drink or-" Duo began, but Quatre cut him off.  
  
"You're changing the subject," Quatre growled.  
  
"Because it needs changing," Duo retorted.  
  
Their food arrived and Duo made a show of being engrossed in eating his steak.  
  
"Duo, you can tell me to mind my own business," Quatre told him as he picked at a dish of cream and lobster, "but I truly think that you are holding yourself back in this fruitless pursuit. You have a great deal more potential and you're simply not interested in using it as long as your obsession with Heero continues."  
  
"You're beginning to sound like Fei," Duo grumbled. "Stalker. Obsession... Are you going to tell me how I'm not good enough for him next?"  
  
Quatre looked very angry. "Is that what he told you?"  
  
"Among other things," Duo grunted as he slathered butter over his potato. "He thinks I'm wasting my time because Heero is a god and I'm the hired help."  
  
"You are wasting your time, but not for that reason," Quatre told him. He regarded Duo's dress shirt and his work slacks. "Look at you, living on the edge. You can barely afford government housing, you don't own a vehicle, and you don't even have a vid service at your home. I'm willing to bet that is the best suit of clothes that you own." He pointed a warning finger at Duo when he opened his mouth quickly to speak, "Don't call me a rich snob, either, my dear friend," Quatre told him. "I think you know where my concern lies."  
  
Duo sighed. "Okay, okay! So I'm not making ends meet with this job. Yeah, I can do better. Don't ask me why I'm all over Heero, even when I know gnats get more of his consideration than I do." His eyes went distant and the purple in them seemed to intensify with his emotions. "There's just something about him..." His fork stabbed in and out of his potato as he thought about it. "Since the day we met, he's been under my skin."  
  
"You, Duo Maxwell, are in love," Quatre sighed as if he were diagnosing a terrible disease.  
  
"With a killer, an ex terrorist, Preventer's best agent, the hero of the war, the shining star-," Duo rattled off forlornly and then trailed off, staring down into his destroyed potato. "Yeah, I've got it bad and there's nothing I can do about it. Can we just eat now or are you going to grill my soul, after you've already yanked it out of me, for an appetizer?"  
  
"I'm sorry, my friend," Quatre replied sadly.  
  
"Yeah, I know," Duo sighed. "So am I. Just... don't try and fix things okay? Let me figure it out."  
  
"All right," Quatre replied "But you know that I am always at your service, and I'm not only speaking of your love life."  
  
"Thanks," Duo said, ducking his head in embarrassment. "Now let me eat my fifty dollar potato before it gets cold."  
  
+  
  
"Trowa, remove it or lose it," Duo growled as his arms were suddenly pinned to his sides by two very long, but very strong, arms.  
  
"What would happen to my Quatre if I were a terrorist or a kidnapper?" Trowa wondered softly as he released Duo.  
  
Duo turned to face the tall circus performer smiling gently down at him. He was dressed formally and it was a clear indication that he was expecting to join Quatre. Duo snorted at Quatre, who was standing beside him near the exit to the restaurant. Here was the reason why the heir to the Winner empire had wanted to hurry up the meal.  
  
"Sorry if I used up more time in my 'slot' than I should have," Duo groused. "I suppose Someone like Trowa gets more than an hour on your schedule?" Quatre was apologetic. "He's escorting me to a charity function, Duo. I didn't mean any slight. You know you are my best friend."  
  
Duo grimaced. "Yeah, I know. You're an important man. It's easy to forget when I can still do this." He rubbed his knuckles firmly into the top of Quatre's blonde hair and then grabbed him around the throat with one arm to hug him enthusiastically.  
  
Duo was suddenly surrounded my security guards, a gun near his temple.   
  
"Release, Mr. Winner at once," a man with dark glasses hissed.  
  
Quatre glared at Duo as he pushed his hands away. "It's all right, Mr. Perin. Duo is only joking."  
  
The guard pulled away his gun and gave Duo a small bow, but his eyes, Duo suspected, hidden by his dark lenses, were probably not sorry at all. He knew that they didn't approve of Quatre 'slumming'.  
  
"That answers your question," Duo said to Trowa. "If you were a terrorist or kidnapper, these goons would have shot you... and probably me too." He faked a whisper. "I don't think they like me."  
  
Trowa grimaced. "Me either. It seems circus performers and mail men are low on their list of acceptable Winner companions."  
  
The guard didn't acknowledge their comments. Quatre, however, looked resigned and somewhat depressed. Duo knew the cause. Because of who he was, he had to accept certain restrictions in his life. He probably would have liked to reprimand the guard, but Duo was sure that they all thought the same way about their charge. Keep him safe and hope that he eventually saw sense and stopped hanging around riff raff. Replacing the opinionated guard with someone exactly like him was an exercise in futility.  
  
"I had a pleasant time, Duo," Quatre said. "I hope that we can do this again soon."  
  
"Likewise," Duo replied, putting on a grin. "You didn't say, though, why Trowa's come all this way to hold your hand at one of your events?"  
  
Quatre looked shy. "He's performing."  
  
Duo was stunned. "Performing... how?"  
  
Trowa smirked. "Acrobatics at the center of the event while they sip their champagne and make six digit donations to the reconstruction of war damaged satellites."  
  
Duo whistled. "Six digits? That's a pretty damned expensive show."  
  
Trowa chuckled. "The show is being donated. It's the champagne they'll be paying for."  
  
"Ouch," Duo laughed.  
  
"Why don't you come and watch the show?" Quatre suggested eagerly.  
  
"Because I don't have an outfit or six figures, except on my bills," Duo shot back irritably. "I think you know that by now, Quatre."  
  
"You can sit backstage," Trowa suggested, "and help me with my equipment. My assistant couldn't make it and I don't really like doing the performance alone."  
  
"Is money involved?" Duo wondered with a mercenary gleam. "If I'm not delivering packages, I'm not getting paid."  
  
"I think I can manage to float a few credits your way," Trowa assured him. "I suppose getting a man, who's as good with ropes and equipment as I am, is worth it."  
  
"Great! I'm in, then. Let's get going. Limo out front still, Quatre?" Duo asked excitedly and proceeded them out of the door, braid swinging behind him.  
  
Quatre grinned at Trowa. "I told you it would work."  
  
"He wasn't fooled," Trowa told him seriously, his green eyes looked disapproving.  
  
"There is nothing for him to be fooled about," Quatre replied in an offended tone as he signaled for the bill to be paid. "We didn't lie to him."  
  
"He suspects something," Trowa persisted.  
  
"Of course, but he doesn't know anything," Quatre replied in exasperation. "Now, look friendly, Trowa, so that he doesn't realize that he's walking into our trap."  
  
"Your trap," Trowa retorted. "It won't work."  
  
"Only if Relena doesn't hold up her end of it," Quatre pointed out. "Now, let's catch up to Duo before he really gets suspicious."  
  
"I know for a fact," Trowa said as he followed Quatre, "what happens when you put too nervous, male lions into a cage together. The outcome is usually very ugly."  
  
Quatre shot a look over his shoulder that was reproving. "They're not lions, Trowa, they're in love!"  
  
"Of course," Trowa pointed out sarcastically. "That's why they've been apart and actively avoiding each other all of this time."  
  
Quatre smiled as he slipped an arm around Trowa's waist to hurry him up. "You'll see. It's in their eyes."  
  
"Eyes?" Trowa arched an eyebrow skeptically.  
  
"Eyes," Quatre repeated firmly. "They are windows to the soul after all."


	3. Champagne

"I feel like a monkey," Duo grumbled as he pulled at the collar of his black, three piece suit.  
  
"You're lucky that Rashid could find something for your scrawny body," Trowa snorted as he taped one of his wrists for support. Standing in his tights, upper chest bare, he was all muscle and Duo couldn't help admiring the view even amidst his indignation.  
  
"I am not scrawny!" Duo retorted. "I'm lean."  
  
"Lean?" Trowa echoed with a snort of amusement.  
  
Duo glared as he separated ropes and harness. He changed the subject. His lack of height, compared to the others, had always been a sore point with him. "I'm supposed to be helping you. It's a little hard to do that in a suit."  
  
"I don't really need you for another hour," Trowa told him. "Quatre wanted to give you the chance to enjoy the event before then."  
  
"I had my fill of bullshit this morning, Trowa," Duo replied angrily. "Want to tell me what this is really all about? If Quatre is trying to hook me up with another job prospect, I'm going home."  
  
"No, not that," Trowa assured him and then shrugged as he checked several rings. "Enjoy yourself and don't worry about what Quatre is trying to do. There's good food here and some entertainment beside my act."  
  
"Food?" Duo perked up, but was suspicious too. "Not strange things with stranger names?"  
  
"I don't know. Go and find Quatre and he'll lead you to something... safe," Trowa suggested.  
  
Duo rolled eyes. "I want to get paid and I want to get fed. If I get both of those things, I'll be happy."  
  
Duo strode from the room and Trowa sighed to himself, "I think you're going to get fireworks as well, friend."  
  
Duo threaded his way through the crowd and found Quatre where the crowd was thickest. He was talking to a group of men and women, face serious. A tilt to his chin, though, told Duo that he would have liked to be somewhere else.  
  
Duo used a judo move to get through the last barrier of bodies and locked arms with Quatre. "There is a matter that needs your immediate attention, Mr. Winner, sir." Duo told him.  
  
"If you'll excuse me, please," Quatre said to the people around him and they gave way. When Duo had Quatre free of the press of bodies, the man turned to him anxiously. "What's going on, Duo? Has something happened?"  
  
"My stomach is empty and it needs a guide to real food," Duo replied irritably.  
  
"Duo, those were important people!" Quatre complained and began to return. Duo caught his arm and held him back.   
  
"You picked at that bug soup you ordered for lunch," Duo pointed out. "Here's your chance before they come down on you again. Eat now, schmooze later."  
  
Quatre was looking over Duo's shoulder, unsure, but then he smiled broadly. "Relena's here, by the buffet tables. Come on, Duo. You're right. Eating sounds good."  
  
Duo raised eyebrows. "Relena's here. Let's eat. Those are two ideas that are just wrong together."  
  
Quatre gave Duo a light punch in the shoulder, accidentally hitting Duo's shoulder holster under his coat. He started and exclaimed, "You're armed, Duo?"  
  
"I'm with Quatre Winner, of course I am," Duo growled. "I borrowed a piece off of Rashid. Crowds make me nervous, especially when I'm with the biggest target in the Earth Sphere."  
  
"I'd say that was Relena," Quatre snorted.  
  
"I wish I'd asked for a beam cannon, instead," Duo muttered as he looked around the crowd nervously. "Don't you two know better than to hang out together?"  
  
Quatre was suddenly very serious, almost angry. "I'm not going to let rebels and murderers dictate my life."  
  
"That's good for you, but what about everyone else here?" Duo shot back. "They didn't get to make that choice."  
  
Quatre looked shocked and then he ducked his head. "It should be easy to see what's around me when I stand on the top of the mountain."  
  
Duo quirked an eyebrow. "Uh, I guess that means you're used to being the target, so you don't think about 'Average Joe'. Well, speaking as Average Joe Maxwell, I have to ask you to think about it in the future. You're not a fly by the seat of his pants pilot anymore."  
  
Quatre nodded solemnly and then he was collecting himself and putting on a smile. "Done is done, though, and Relena and I are at the same event. We should go greet her before we eat."  
  
Duo rolled his eyes. "I'll go by myself then. You'll never get out of her clutches once she starts talking."  
  
"No!" Quatre exclaimed quickly and then calmed himself with an effort. "Maybe I need another pilot as a guard? You've made me nervous."  
  
"I made you think," Duo replied skeptically. "I'm not going to believe I scared you." He eyed Quatre. "Is this part of your plan?"  
  
Quatre was startled and then he dissembled. "I don't know what you mean, Duo. Come on, now. We can't keep her waiting."  
  
Duo jumped on that. "Then she is waiting for us?"   
  
"No, you're too suspicious, Duo," Quatre sighed in exasperation as he pulled Duo towards Relena's entourage.  
  
Duo narrowed eyes at Quatre as he followed. "You're not... Okay, I have to believe that you want me to take a job with her, or something, because I sure as shit don't believe that you're trying to fix us up."  
  
Quatre laughed outright. "I think I lost my appetite."  
  
Duo glared. "Me, too."  
  
Relena was surrounded by security guards and looking around as if she were expecting someone. When She saw Quatre and Duo, she brightened at once. Dressed in a pantsuit, and her lapel adorned with a red rose, her carefully styled hair made her look official and older. Her smile broke that impression, though, and she seemed suddenly a girl again.  
  
"Quatre!" she exclaimed as she waved aside her security detail and came forward to take Quatre's hand. Her security looked over Quatre's head at Duo and it was Duo they were obviously suspicious of. He grinned at them as Relena reached out and took his hand as well. She led them towards a table and sat them down. "How are you, Duo?" she asked sweetly.  
  
Duo sat uncomfortably and replied uncertainly, "Uhm, okay, I guess. Nice shindig you're having."  
  
"Thank you," Relena replied absently as she leaned and whispered something to one of her security men. Then her attention was on Duo again as she sat as well. "I've been told that you're a delivery man. It must keep you very busy."  
  
Duo frowned. Nothing was making sense. He would have laid odds that Relena would not only not have any interest in him, but that she wouldn't ever have any conversation including his name. "Yeah," he replied unintelligently, "Pretty busy."  
  
There was an uncomfortable pause. "Queen business keeping you busy?" Duo asked and felt his level of discomfort rise.  
  
Relena's cheeks dimpled. "I'm not a Queen any longer. I'm not even on the council."  
  
"Oh.... So... Just partying then and saving the Indonesian gnats?" Duo flushed and then bit his lip.  
  
Quatre raised golden eyebrows at him, chuckled, and then covered over Duo's awkwardness by saying, "This is a very important fund raiser, Duo, and nothing to do with bio-diversification in the Earth Sphere."  
  
"Bio... what?" Duo blinked.  
  
"Saving gnats," Quatre clarified and Relena laughed. It was a pleasant sound. He gave Relena a nod and a look and her laughter was replaced by a deep breath and an expression of someone breeching a difficult subject.  
  
"Not interested," Duo said, cutting her off. When Relena looked surprised, he bulled forward. "I like my life. No guns. Nobody to kill. I just deliver packages. Whatever you two have cooked up, I don't want any part of it." He stood up. "Thanks and all, but I have things handled."  
  
Duo turned to leave and came face to face with Heero. The man was wearing a black suit with bulges that told Duo that he was heavily armed. His dark brows came down hard as he realized that it was Duo and his cobalt eyes swept Duo up and down. His hand clamped on Duo's shoulder when he realized that Duo was armed as well.  
  
"You don't have clearance to carry a weapon," Heero snapped. "Collins! Take Mr. Maxwell into custody until the end of the fund raiser. I'll deal with him then."  
  
"Like hell!" Duo shot back and jerked his shoulder out of Heero's grasp. "If you think I'm a danger to anyone, you're fucked in the head!"  
  
"You are clearly breaking the law," Heero told him as he reached under his coat for Duo's gun. "If you resist arrest, we will stop you with any force necessary."  
  
Guns were drawn. The tension was thick. Duo and Heero glared at each other as Duo gripped Heero's wrist and kept the man from taking his gun.  
  
"You touch me under my coat, buddy, you better be doing it for a whole 'nother reason than disarming me in a pack of trigger happy security men," Duo warned icily.  
  
Heero suddenly looked uncertain and he blushed, just slightly, but enough for Duo to wonder what the man was thinking. Heero was under control again in the next moment and not about to let the situation get out of his control. "You will hand over your weapon, Mr. Maxwell. I assure you, if you comply, I will make it my personal responsibility to make certain that no one harms you."  
  
"Yeah?" Duo sneered. "Is that why you were handing me off to 'Collins'."  
  
Heero's jaw worked and then he said, "He's a trusted agent."  
  
"Goon," Duo corrected him. "They're all goons and one of them is about to blow off my head from the back. They were ready to shoot me when I showed up."  
  
Heero looked over Duo's shoulder at the very nervous men and their drawn weapons.  
  
Quatre rose. "Heero," he admonished. "I gave Duo the weapon myself." He was unruffled by the small lie, "He wanted to make sure that I was safe in this crowd."  
  
"I'm not so sure of that," Heero replied. "Duo has been at Preventer headquarters many times, and the vid tapes show him acting subversively, perhaps memorizing the faces of agents for just such an opportunity today."  
  
"And that would explain why I walked right up to them?" Duo retorted. "... and met with Relena... and signed in at the gate... and told security there that I was packing a weapon... Funny, they seemed to trust an ex war hero, but then again, they aren't stuck up Preventer agents."  
  
"Heero," Relena said at last, in a tone of voice of someone seeing a disaster unfolding. "Quatre and I wished Duo to be at this gathering."  
  
Heero blinked. "You invited him?"  
  
"Yes," Relena sighed. "Please, Heero. You are under my orders and I want you to leave Duo alone. He has my permission to carry a weapon here."  
  
Duo grinned and it wasn't humorous. "See, big guy? Everything's kosher. You can pack up and get out of my face now."  
  
"That still doesn't explain why..." Heero began, but then he was interrupted as cries rang out to their left. Suddenly, the crowd began scattering.  
  
"Everyone remain where you are!" A voice shouted on a loud speaker. "We have guns and we will use them. Bring Relena Peacecraft to this stage at once, or we will start shooting hostages!"  
  
Heero pulled his gun and aimed it at Duo's head, seething, "I knew it!"  
  
Duo scowled. "Okay, I thought you had some brains. If I was one of them, I'd be over there, not standing where I can get my ass shot."  
  
"Heero, Duo isn't a danger!" Quatre said angrily as their security detail surrounded them. "He's not part of this!"  
  
"Then explain why he was at Preventer headquarters!" Heero snarled back.   
  
"He was trying to be near you!" Quatre exclaimed and then looked shocked at his own words.  
  
Duo went as pale as a sheet. He was still looking into Heero's eyes and he saw consternation there as they turned back to him in confusion. "Me?"  
  
"Shit!" Duo swore.  
  
"Duo, I'm sorry!" Quatre stammered.  
  
"The hell with this now!" Duo snarled. "We've got a situation, Yuy! Trust me or lose an extra gun!"  
  
Heero looked torn and then, suddenly, he nodded.  
  
"Great!" Duo breathed in relief and then pointed over the heads of the crowd. "Trowa's over there. He won't be sitting still, so make sure nobody shoots him."  
  
Heero began shouting orders and the security men broke ranks. Some took Relena and disappeared into the crowd. Quatre drew his own gun and ran a quick hand through his hair as he motioned to several of the detail to follow him.  
  
"You're with me," Heero ground out as he grabbed Duo by his lapel and pulled him into the crowd. "I'm not taking my eyes off of you."  
  
"I'm going to kill Quatre," Duo growled under his breathe as he followed.   
  
Heero heard and looked hard at him.  
  
"I mean he's in trouble!" Duo shot back. "This was all his idea. It has his fingerprints all over it!"  
  
"The kidnaping attempt on Relena?" Heero wondered as he pulled Duo through a knot of panicked people.  
  
"No, my being here and you being here!" Duo fumed.  
  
Heero glared over his shoulder at Duo. "You're not making and sense and it's very important that you start... now!"  
  
"Or what?" Duo retorted.   
  
"I see that you aren't taking our threat seriously," the voice over the loud speaker said angrily. "A little demonstration is in order. Felix... kill five of the hostages."  
  
They finally broke through the crowd into an open space that they had eagerly cleared. On a gaily decorated stage, five men were arranged around a group of twenty of the events notable guests.  
  
Duo motioned to them angrily. "Good going! Weren't you watching them?"  
  
"None of them were prime targets," Heero growled back, but he was pulling Duo down behind the back row of seats arranged before the stage.  
  
"What's the plan?" Duo wanted to know acidly.  
  
Heero pulled out a gun and hit a button on it's side that made it telescope out. He handed it to Duo. "You're a better shot. Get the leader."  
  
Duo frowned at the stage even while he felt a warmth at Heero's compliment. "The one behind Relena's bullet proof podium, you mean?"  
  
"Buster bullets," Heero explained. "They pierce gundanium, they can pierce the podium."  
  
"Sweet!" Duo grinned. "Then what? What's going to stop them from killing the hostages?"  
  
"Quatre, Trowa, and me," Heero replied and then he was gone into the crowd again.  
  
"No hand signs, signal flares, or smoke signals," Duo grumbled as he checked the gun and it's ammo. It was sleek and blue black, a marvel of advanced weaponry. "Never use a weapon you don't know anything about," Duo snorted and hit the button. It became compact again and he tucked it into his belt. He pulled out a revolver instead. "Low tech, small chance of screw up."  
  
Duo rested the barrel of the gun across one arm to steady it and then took aim.


	4. Fine Line

Duo waited. He saw one of the men grin like a lunatic and take aim at the hostages. Still Duo waited. He had learned to be emotionless during the execution of an assignment during the war. That same training fell into place like a well worn coat.  
  
The signal came all in an instant. The man attempting to shoot the hostages fell with a startled _expression and a hole in his head. As the other men brought their guns to bear on the shooter, Quatre was suddenly there, Trowa giving him cover as he rushed the hostages towards the wings of the stage. Men ducked and dived for cover.  
  
Duo took a breath, aimed carefully, and fired up into the lights. One of the heavy lights came crashing down on the leader's head, smashing him like ripe fruit. There was a few more sporadic spurts of gunfire and then all was quiet as men began surrendering.  
  
Heero was suddenly at Duo's elbow. He felt his presence and grimaced. "Didn't trust me, did you?"  
  
"Not entirely," Heero admitted as he cocked back his gun and holstered it, "especially when I saw you put away the gun I gave you."  
  
Duo shrugged, a nervous twitch, and he put on a grin that was every bit as manic as the grin of the man with the hole in his head. "I knew I didn't need it." He holstered his own gun, but he was slow to take his hand off the butt of it. "So... what are you going to do, arrest me?"  
  
"Fine you," Heero grunted as he took back his specialty gun from Duo. "The men at the gates shouldn't have allowed you in armed. They, unfortunately, gave you permission by that failure."  
  
"Aw, no fun for Heero today," Duo retorted sarcastically. He turned and eyed Heero. He was startled by the dark, almost pained, look on Heero's face. He grunted. "What? It's not funny if you start looking like a kicked kitten."  
  
Heero's jaw bunched and then he was turning and walking away as he said, "I have to do mop up."  
  
Duo frowned in confusion. He heard Quatre sigh behind him and say, "The plan was to get you two together to at least have a drink and a few words. I should have known better."  
  
"Yeah, you should have," Duo grumbled, still watching Heero's retreating back. "That guy doesn't want anything to do with someone like me."  
  
"You're right, Quatre," Relena's voice said. "They are incredibly stupid."  
  
Duo turned in shock and saw Relena and Quatre standing together, looking at him disapprovingly.  
  
"Stupid?" Duo glared and scratched his head. "I do believe that I'm the hero of the day here."  
  
"And I do appreciate what you did, immensely," Relena agreed, "and I'm sure that those poor hostages will give you every honor for it, but, as far as your relationship with Heero is concerned-"  
  
Duo was incredulous and then furious. "Stay out of my life, both of you! I don't need you to fix me up with 'Pole Up His Butt' over there. He doesn't like me, he doesn't trust me, and he thinks I'm a goddam terrorist!"  
  
"And he's been in love with you since the war," Relena said as she lifted her chin bravely and met his temper head on.  
  
Duo's mouth went open and then he shut it with a snap. "Women!" he muttered and then began to leave.  
  
"Duo, listen," Quatre interjected quickly and took hold of his arm. His blue eyes were anxious and that kept Duo from shaking him off immediately. "You can't blame Heero for going into full agent mode in a situation like this. All unknowns are suspect, you know that, and you were a very large unknown at this gathering, as were all other last minute and unplanned arrivals. He's just doing his job."  
  
"Just showing the 'love'," Duo growled derisively. "Why don't you and Relena go off and paint each other's nails and leave me out of your scheming?"  
  
Qautre frowned and his grip tightened. "I know you're angry. You have every right to be." He looked around them at the confused and frightened crowd, at the agents pouring into the site, and Heero and his men taking the terrorists into custody. "Let's talk about this later. There are things that Relena knows that I think you should hear."  
  
"Quatre!" Duo barked as he pried off his hand. "You can tell me all you want; that Heero has a photo of me covered in hearts, that he keeps a secret diary devoted to Duo Maxwell, or that he sighs a lot and says my name, but it doesn't fucking matter! He's not telling me anything except that I'm a suspect in his book. " Duo rubbed at his face wearily and then said, "I've tried to hang around him, maybe hoping... but he acts like I'm nothing more than some kid, some weirdo he knew from the war. Fei was right. I'm not in his class. I don't measure up. I'm not anyone who can stand beside Heero Yuy, agent and hero, and mean anything."  
  
Relena made a disgusted noise. "It's even worse than you said, Quatre. Heero thinks he's too boring and rigid and Duo thinks he's not good enough. I've never seen such nincompoops!"  
  
"Ninca-what?" Duo said in confusion and then shook his head sharply. " Okay, it's so easy for you guys, I'm sure. That's why you're still single, Queen Peacecraft, and you're still not living with Trowa, Quatre. Come back to me when you both have your lives straightened out."  
  
Duo gave a cheery wave, though his face was anything but cheerful, as he cut into the crowd and made his escape. He had to pass several checkpoints, but his face and reputation earned him a quick once over and a thank you. He was nearly out of the last gate, when he heard Heero shout,"Stop him!"  
  
Furious, Duo felt like running, felt like going stealth and doing what he did best, fading into the crowd and disappearing, but he stopped and stood waiting with his fists clenched and his head down. Men ranged themselves uncertainly in his path warily, not sure if there would be a fight or not.  
  
Heero appeared at Duo's side, panting and hair tousled over his intense blue eyes. He stood for a moment in silence and Duo didn't look at him, ready to be told that he was going to lock up after all. Heero seemed unsure, nervous, and then he was pressing something into Duo's hand.  
  
"Just.... Just think about it, all right?" Heero panted and then he was waving his men off. "He can go."  
  
Duo looked around him as the men backed off and Heero walked back into the gathering. He made his escape first, calling a cab and putting it on Quatre's tab. It was only then, sitting in the back seat and hunkered low, that he unfolded the paper that Heero had given him.  
  
'Let's talk', the note said in a neat, blockish script. 'Saturday, eleven o 'clock a.m.' There was an address, a nice neighborhood near Preventer headquarters.  
  
Duo felt himself go white and his hand trembled, the note shivering under his gaze. He read the note over and over again. If it had been official, it would have been Heero's office. If it had been simply a talk to apologize, it might have been in a parking lot. This was Heero's home, Duo thought, and that said a lot of things.  
  
Duo leaned back and closed his eyes, swallowing hard. He didn't dare hope, not yet, that Quatre and Relena might be right.  
  
\+   
  
When Duo arrived at the two story walk up apartment building, he looked slowly right and left before going up the front steps. It was a nice little neighborhood, a place that might have been homey feeling to anyone but Duo. His 'homey' feeling had to do with trashy streets, cracked and water stained walls, and a bolt hole that no one could find. He'd come a long way from the streets of L2, but it was still in him, blood and bone. Places like the one he was in now, was the stuff of dreams and meant for other people.  
  
Heero wouldn't live in a place without security. There was a camera at the door and a buzz box. Duo rang Heero's number and waited. When a green light flashed, he waved up at the camera and managed a nervous grin.  
  
"Hey ya, Heero!"  
  
"Duo, good," Heero replied, short and abrupt. He didn't sound friendly and Duo felt his nerves tighten with suspicion. A more reasonable part of his brain reminded him that Heero was on the side of the law now and a 'by the book' agent. Old habits died as hard as the memory of L2, though.  
  
"Come up," Heero said and the door buzzed.  
  
Duo opened it and found a narrow, carpeted hallway on the other side. A flight of stairs crawled up along one wall, and was carpeted as well, with pictures hung tastefully along every few steps. It looked as if he had walked into someone's home already and that made Duo even more off balance.  
  
Heero's door was third from the top of the stairs and Duo gave a small knock. Heero opened it, smoothing a hand along the top of his messy hair and looking as nervous as Duo felt. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, a white shirt, and he was barefoot. It seemed so casual and out of character for Heero, that Duo stood, stunned, unable to think of a single thing to say.  
  
"Hello, Duo," Heero said and then stepped back and motioned Duo inside. "Please, have a seat."  
  
Duo himself was dressed in black dress pants and a button down red shirt. It wasn't formal dress, but it was more formal than he was used to wearing. It was if they had traded places and they both weren't comfortable with the change. The thought made Duo grimace and Heero took the _expression to mean something entirely different.  
  
"I'm sorry about the place... I'm not a very good decorator," Heero apologized uncomfortably.  
  
Duo looked at the small apartment with its blonde wood floors, tasteful furniture, overstuffed leather couch, and whitewashed walls with pictures of forest scenes, and gave Heero a cock eyed look. "Heero, I feel like I'm in a freakin' magazine. You did great."  
  
That surprised a smile out of Heero, but he was nervously rubbing his hands along his sides as well, as Duo sat on the couch gingerly. Heero asked, "Would you like a drink? Beer, wine, water?"  
  
"Uhm, soda?"  
  
"I think Trowa left some behind the last time he visited," Heero remembered. "I'll get it."  
  
As he went into the kitchen, Duo called after him, "Trowa visits?"  
  
"We were close friends during the war," Heero called back. "We helped each other a great deal. Is Pepsi all right?"  
  
"Sure," Duo replied and Heero reappeared with a sports drink for himself and a can of soda for Duo. Duo took it and Heero sat in a chair close by.  
  
They fiddled with their drinks, looking down at them as if they absorbed all of their attention. Duo finally cleared his throat and said, " Uhm... so... is this social, or did you have a reason for wanting to see me?"  
  
Heero bit his lip and then replied, "Social."  
  
Duo took a sip of his drink, coming to terms with that answer and the flutter of his pulse. "What made you... I mean... after all that happened at the fundraiser, I didn't think that you would want me in your sights again."  
  
"It's something Quatre said," Heero replied quietly. "And Relena. I thought about it and wondered... Things suddenly made sense.... You are not an idiot... or a fool... or someone who constantly gets lost in Preventer head quarters, so I couldn't understand why you wandered there so often, why you always seemed to be there, yet avoiding me whenever I tried to confront you. "  
  
Duo colored and his hand tightened on his drink. Heero knew he'd been stalking him. He stood abruptly and put the can down on the marble coffee table in front of him. "Uh, yeah.... you must think I'm a freak, right? I won't do it again, I promise. I just... okay, thanks for doing this private. I'm going now. Won't bother you again."  
  
"Duo!" Heero stood up as well. "Don't go."  
  
Duo jammed hands into his pants pockets and looked very hard at the floor. "Do you want to punch me, or something? Cut off an ear? That's fair, I guess."  
  
Heero looked shocked and then he sat down again. "Duo, sit," he ordered as if Duo were one of his agents.  
  
Duo cautiously sat down. " Okay, sitting," he said in a small voice.  
  
"Duo, can we..." Heero swallowed hard, blushed, and then stammered, "A date... Would a date be all right?"  
  
"For when you can beat the crap out of me?" Duo frowned. "I've heard about anal, Heero, but usually guys just-"  
  
"Duo!" Heero exclaimed in exasperation and Duo winced. "I'm not angry," Heero said in a calmer voice.  
  
Duo looked at him, wide eyed. "You're not?"  
  
Heero looked very serious. "No."  
  
"Then..." Duo licked dry lips, dared to believe, and asked, "A date... like in an actual date... as in... we two going out for dinner, or drinks, or... stuff like that?"  
  
Heero smiled in relief. "Yes, like that."  
  
Duo sat silently, mind in shock.  
  
"Duo?" Heero prodded.  
  
"Could you repeat that?" Duo wondered in a small voice.  
  
Heero suddenly chuckled and the tension broke. "Duo Maxwell... I... I've been wanting to talk to you for some time, but I never imagined that you would be interested in someone like me. I suppose I filed it under 'completely improbable' and never pursued it because of that. Now that I know that you feel.... well... I think you feel ... interest... then I would like to... go on a date."  
  
"Are you sure this doesn't include kicking my ass?" Duo asked faintly.  
  
"Yes, very sure," Heero assured him.  
  
Duo blinked and then grinned. "A date.... What should we do?"  
  
"What would you like to do?" Heero wondered.  
  
Duo looked around the apartment. "Here; some steaks, some drinks, and some talk."  
  
"I'd like that," Heero replied, smiling softly. "When?"  
  
"Next Saturday," Duo suggested. When Heero looked disappointed, Duo said, "Hey! I gotta let this sink in."  
  
Heero nodded. "Saturday, then."  
  
They stared at each other, blinked, and then Duo blushed. "What now?" he asked. "Should I go?"  
  
Heero looked confused. "I don't know..."  
  
"Yeah, I'll go," Duo laughed and stood up. As he headed fo the door, he shot over his shoulder, "You're absolutely sure...?"  
  
"No ass kicking," Heero assured him. "I'm sincere, Duo."  
  
Duo turned at the door and looked at him very seriously. "I'm glad, Heero. Real glad." and then he was out of the door, down the hallway, and out onto the street.  
  
Duo's cell phone beeped instantly. He looked at the number, sighed, and answered it. "How the hell did you know?"  
  
"GPS," Quatre replied. "So?"  
  
"So," Duo echoed derisively.  
  
"Duo!" Quatre pleaded. "I am your best friend.  
  
"Date, next Saturday," Duo relented and grinned when Quatre whooped for joy on the other end of the line.


	5. Dreams

"Shit!" Duo staggered as his heel went through a crust of snow and found water underneath. It went over the top of his black ankle boot and soaked his sock. Huddled in his coat, in the unseasonable weather, he shook his foot to free it of water and mud and felt it freeze instantly.   
  
"If this life is some sort of karmic justice for my past life," Duo muttered as he mounted the steps to Heero's apartment, "I must have put baby bunnies in blenders and put them in baby formula."   
  
"Duo, that image is very... disgusting," Heero said.   
  
Duo started and saw Heero in the small alcove by the door, barely protected from the stiff wind. He was wearing a thick coat, hands stuck into pockets and looking as miserable as Duo felt.   
  
"What the hell are you doing out here?" Duo wondered in shock.   
  
"You're late and you didn't answer your cell phone," Heero replied.   
  
Duo took out his cell and saw that the battery was too low to receive a call. He pocketed it and huddled in his coat as close to Heero as he could manage to escape the wind. "Sorry, traffic sucked. Were you going somewhere?"   
  
Heero blinked. "No."   
  
Duo floundered, confused. "Then why... Were you out here... waiting for me?"   
  
Heero nodded, eyes on his feet and fall of chocolate hair obscuring his face. "I wasn't sure... I was worried..."   
  
"Heero, standing out here freezing your balls off , doesn't make someone show up any quicker," Duo said incredulously.   
  
Heero shrugged. "I think I was considering whether to look for you."   
  
"Oh... well..." Duo said uncertainly, feeling painfully awkward. "Okay, I'm here. Let's go upstairs and thaw out."   
  
"I can't," Heero admitted.   
  
Duo stared at him. "Why not?"   
  
"I left my keycard upstairs," Heero replied sheepishly. "I locked myself out."   
  
Duo laughed. Heero looked up and smiled tentatively. "Love makes people morons, I guess," Duo said with exaggerated irritation. "Come on, big bad Gundam pilot. I'll get you back into your own home."   
  
Duo leaned over and looked at the lock. "Hmph," he said and then grinned.   
  
Duo took out his cell phone. It still had a little charge left. Opening the back, he used a small metal pick from his pocket to make a high frequency short as he held it close to the door lock.   
  
"A little noise and a little jolt," Duo muttered and the door lock clicked open.   
  
Heero frowned as he opened the door. "I'll talk to the manager about a new one."   
  
"I'd do that if I were you," Duo grunted. "A senile grandmother could have gotten past that."   
  
Too late, Duo realized that he was insulting Heero, who'd been locked out by that very device. "Uh," he stammered, "but you weren't trying to get in, were you? You were looking for me."   
  
Heero sighed as he led Duo up to his apartment, but didn't reply. The entryway was warm and Heero's apartment was warmer. Heero shrugged off his coat and slung it over a chair back. Taking Duo's from him, he looked down and said, "Better take off your shoes. I'll lend you some of my socks."   
  
Duo blushed as he pulled them off. It was stupid, but he was feeling shy enough to be uncomfortable about showing his bare feet. He was almost afraid that Heero was going to be critical of them. They weren't ugly, pale and a little blue from cold, but average as men's feet went. Remembering Heero's, Duo swallowed. They had been as handsome as the rest of him; small, narrow, oriental feet. Duo felt as if his were big and awkward by comparison.   
  
After giving him the socks, though, Heero wasn't even glancing at Duo's feet. Instead, he was moving towards the kitchen. "Coffee, tea?" Heero asked.   
  
"Coffee, black!" Duo called back as he settled on the couch and pulled on the socks. He found himself looking at them and smiling like an idiot. He was wearing something of Heero's and it made him feel oddly thrilled.   
  
"I was thinking," Heero called from the kitchen, "that we could do something next weekend as well... go somewhere."   
  
That was hopeful, Duo thought. It meant that he hadn't screwed things up completely yet. "Sounds good," Duo replied, feeling weird about talking to a kitchen doorway.   
  
"Where would you like to go?"   
  
"Movies?"   
  
"Which one?"  
  
"You can choose."   
  
"No, it's all right. You choose."   
  
"I'm up for anything."   
  
"Me too."   
  
"Comedy?"   
  
"Sounds good."   
  
"What's playing?"   
  
"Don't know."   
  
"Dinner afterward?"   
  
"Yeah."   
  
"Chinese?"   
  
"Hmmm..."   
  
"Italian?"   
  
"Yeah, that's good.... unless you don't like it?"   
  
"No, that's fine."   
  
Heero came back out of the kitchen with a steaming mug of coffee and a small cup of hot tea. "I put the steaks in the broiler with some vegetables. It should be done in about fifteen minutes."   
  
"Good thing I showed up then," Duo chuckled as he took his coffee and warmed his hands on the mug. "You would have had a crispy couple of steaks on your hands otherwise."   
  
Heero made a small sound of agreement as he sipped his tea and Duo mentally kicked himself. Stop talking about the lock, he told himself.   
  
Duo looked at his mug, trying to find a way to recover from that blunder and saw what the mug said. "Sexy pilots do it on the wing?"   
  
Heero looked embarrassed. "A gift from a roommate."   
  
Duo blinked. It had never occurred to him that Heero might have had someone else in his life. "Someone I know?"   
  
Heero shook his head. "She was unacceptable," he said with a grimace and took another sip of tea. "I decided that paying the entire rent was better than enduring..."   
  
"Idiots in your space?" Duo finished and Heero nodded. It hadn't been romantic then. Duo felt relief.   
  
Heero was watching him. Duo had been dreading this moment. Heero was going to ask him questions and Duo knew that his answers were not going to be pleasant conversation. It was a moment in which he had to decide whether being flip and evading was better than being truthful and letting Heero know what he was getting himself in to.   
  
"I'm an orphan, street trash, to be exact," Duo said, deciding to not play twenty questions and just tell him. "My early life consisted of stealing and running with a gang. I was taken in by an orphanage, eventually, but they were all wiped out in a skirmish with rebels. I spent a few years running the streets again, doing what I had to, but then I decided to hell with it and stowed away on a sweeper ship. That's when I ran into my chance to pilot a Gundam. Let's skip the war, you know about all of that. After, I still had enough of the street in me to not fit in and to think the nearest flat surface was home. I have one, but it's just a closet with a bed and I don't go there a hell of a lot. I took the delivery gig because I call the shots and, as long as I drop off and pick up, nobody cares about the particulars. I couldn't get you out of my mind, though. I tried Preventers, because that's what you were going, but it made my skin crawl and I quit. Wu Fei thinks I'm a loser and I don't stand a chance in hell with you as long as I'm not saving the day somehow, so stalking you and just seeing you once in awhile, was something I decided was all I was going to get... so... imagine my shock... and here I am..." he ended lamely and then looked very hard at the steam in his coffee cup.   
  
Heero was quiet and then he said softly, "I was an assassin when I was a child. After a hit went sour, I was told to make my own way. Dr. J found me and trained me. I've never known anything except killing and being a soldier. After the war, I didn't fit in. People told me that it was my chance for Peace and that I could finally live the life I had dreamed about, but... I didn't have dreams of anything except for being what I am, what I've always been. I was sick of killing, and I thought I might not want to do it again, but... I couldn't stand by and watch the world burn because I wouldn't act to save it. I think that I want to be an agent, doing this, for the rest of my life, but... I don't judge you because you were able to find another life away from it. Chang is wrong that it makes you less than what we are. I didn't say anything to you because I thought... I seemed to be everything that you didn't approve of."   
  
Duo laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess... " He grew serious suddenly, understanding something about himself. "I think I said a lot of things because I was feeling like I didn't measure up. It made me feel better calling your types lame, square headed, drones-"   
  
Heero gave him a mock glare, "You can stop, I understand."   
  
Duo snickered and then he leaned back into the couch and slumped a little. He gathered the courage and then asked, "So, you want me to leave now?"   
  
"Do you want to go?" Heero wondered tensely.   
  
They looked at each other, then, and they saw the fear in each other's eyes.   
  
"Doesn't matter?" Duo asked.   
  
"Not to me," Heero replied.   
  
"Me either," Duo affirmed.   
  
Duo chewed on his lip and then asked. "Uhm, mind me asking why you're interested in me?"   
  
"Your tight pants," Heeor replied straight faced.   
  
Duo blinked. "That's kinky."   
  
"Your ass," Heero continued. "Your long legs... your... personality."   
  
"About time you got above my waist there, Yuy," Duo laughed.   
  
"You're strong," Heero continued, "bold, and you're always... Howard said once, that you were always on top of the wave, never in the trough." He paused and then said in a low, uncertain voice, "You always made me look outside of myself and see things... differently... better..."   
  
"I'm a loudmouth joker, you mean," Duo interjected. Heero smiled. Duo sighed, scratched his head and then said, "Well, I guess I like your eyes and the way you scowl. I like your hair and I like how you're always so damned sure of yourself. You're steady, capable, dependable, brave, honorable... and I saw you naked twice during the war and you are one hot sonofa... " Duo dipped his head and hid behind his bangs. "Was that too much information?"   
  
"I saw you naked twenty three times," Heero admitted.   
  
Duo came out of hiding to blink at him stunned. "Twenty three?"   
  
"I was trying harder," Heero smirked.   
  
"I was afraid of getting killed," Duo shot back and then grunted. "Twenty three?"   
  
Heero nodded and then he was suddenly up and hurrying to the kitchen. Duo smelled burning meat at the same time.   
  
"Duo?" Heero called out from the kitchen.   
  
"Heero?" Duo winced as a stream of black smoke drifted out of the kitchen.   
  
"I must have been your assistant baby bunny grinder in another life," Heero lamented. "Dinner is ruined. Go out or order in?"   
  
Duo put his shirt over his nose to escape the smoke. "Put out the flames and we'll go out. Pizza?"   
  
"Fine."   
  
Heero came out of the kitchen and retrieved their coats. He stood very close to Duo and then plucked the shirt down from Duo's nose. Their eyes met and then Heero very slowly leaned in and gave Duo the briefest of kisses. He looked uncertain then, but Duo grinned.   
  
"I still can't believe this is happening," Duo said. "I just..." He shook himself all over and then put on his coat. "Come on, before I decide that this is just some sort of elaborate Preventer operation to get me to... well, something..."   
  
Heero relaxed visibly and smiled. "Tell us how you actually get anything delivered?"   
  
"Har, har," Duo groused and then laughed at the fact that he was doing something that he had never believed would ever happen in his life time, share a joke with Heero Yuy... and a kiss.   
  
Heero threw open a window and then they went out of the building as snow began to gently fall all around them. Heero reached out, snagged Duo close to his side, and held him there as they walked.


	6. Two Step

"Talk," Quatre demanded.   
  
"Long coat or short coat?" Duo asked as he held up two, tailored coats.   
  
"Long," Qautre replied in exasperation. "Duo... What happened?"   
  
"We had dinner. We talked." Duo replied as he chucked the short coat and held up two shirts. "Ruffles or pleats?"  
  
Quatre made a face. "Pleats, of course."   
  
Duo snorted. "You're the one who bought me the fancy clothes, remember?"   
  
"That's before I saw you in the ruffled shirt. You look like a pirate," Quatre retorted and leaned into the view screen of the vid phone. "Tell me details!"   
  
"Pirate?" Duo held the ruffled shirt against him and looked in the mirror. He liked the look and stacked it with his long coat. He held up silk ties next. "This scarf thing or the long tie?"   
  
"Neither with a ruffled shirt. Wear the amethyst pin I gave you level with your breastbone," Quatre told him impatiently and glared, his blue eyes fierce. "Did you or did you not have one on one relations with Heero Yuy?"   
  
Duo grinned as he tossed away the ties and held up black boots and dress shoes. "Ankle or regular?"   
  
Quatre fumed and then asked tightly, "Where exactly are you going?"   
  
"A fancy dress party," Duo grimaced. "Not my kind of thing, but Heero has friends on both sides of the tracks. Good thing you gave me some social graces, Quatre."   
  
Quatre looked skeptical. "Did you actually learn some of them?"   
  
Duo laughed and then asked, "Boots or shoes, Quat?"   
  
"Dancing?"   
  
"Not me."   
  
"Standing and drinking?"   
  
"I hope so."   
  
"Formal dinner?"   
  
"I think so."   
  
"Shoes," Quatre replied. "Now, can we talk about something beside your clothes?"   
  
Duo dropped the shoes and laughed. He sat in front of the vid phone and leaned on one fist. "Okay. We hugged. We clowned around. He gave me a kiss. That's it."   
  
Quatre's eyes were wide and then he looked annoyed. "Duo, you're not sixteen. You had Heero in his apartment and didn't..."   
  
"No, we didn't." Duo poked the screen with his finger. "Is that what you and Trowa did?"   
  
"Yes, and we were sixteen at the time, Duo," Quatre replied and looked embarrassed.   
  
"So what's wrong with you two?" Duo wanted to know. "You want me and Heero to knock boots and get together, but you two have been going at it for forever and you're still not staying in the same bedroom."   
  
Quatre looked down and Duo imagined him twisting his hands into a knot. "Trowa is a free spirit. He visits when he can and then he leaves."   
  
"No house in the country and a bed for two?' Duo sighed. "Sorry to hear that. Sounds like Trowa, though. I know the guy loves you, Quat."   
  
"He does," Quatre replied firmly and then looked up. "But this isn't about us. This about you and Heero. Neither of you are wanderers. Both of you want that home and that bed for two."   
  
"We want something solid and real," Duo replied. "I can go out and fuck anyone, Quat. I can't go out and find another Heero."   
  
Quatre blushed a deep red. "Now I'm sorry."   
  
"You're a romantic," Duo told him. "I'm not and neither is Heero. We hang out together. We talk. We have pizza and maybe we'll have sex later on, but only when we're both okay with that."   
  
"But tonight it's a party?" Quatre asked with a smile.   
  
"Yeah," Duo picked up his braid and swished it across the screen. "Bow or no bow?"   
  
"Red bow," Quatre replied.   
  
Duo snickered. "A red flag bumping my ass? You're still trying, aren't you?"   
  
"Yes," Quatre laughed.   
  
Duo sighed. "I guess that's what friends are for."   
  
\+   
  
"You're drunk! Get your damn hands off me!" Duo whispered low and harsh to the tipsy party guest trying to grope his ass.   
  
The party had run smoothly up until then. The home had been comfortingly average, nothing on a grand scale, and Heero had, thankfully, been as disinclined as Duo to dance. He was  friends with most of the people at the party, to Duo's surprise, and Duo had to admit that he had imagined Heero sullen, friendless, and unsociable. Duo had even felt a few moments of jealousy, seeing Heero so familiar with other men and women. Heero had seemed his, and his alone, even though Duo had never acted on his feelings for the man.   
  
Now, as the party began to wind down,  and the bar had been open and flowing for some time, some people were losing their thin veneer of civility. Duo had already managed to keep his temper after over hearing several crude remarks about Heero and himself, a few mutters of disgust, and the advances of several women who had been confidant that they could steal him away from Heero for the night. This, though, was far more direct and intolerable.   
  
"You like cocks, right? I've got a good one and it needs some blowin'." the man slurred as he leaned into Duo and breathed alcohol into his face. "Let's go out to my car. You can do it all you want. I like women, but... no luck tonight. You'll do. I'll give ole'Heero a fifty to cover it after we're done."   
  
Duo narrowed eyes. "What?"   
  
"He said you were from L2," the man chuckled and tried to hook an arm around Duo's waist.   
  
Duo shoved his hand away and said dangerously, "What the hell makes you think everyone from L2's a whore?"   
  
"Whores, thieves, or idiots," the man snickered. "That hair... I think I know what that makes you."   
  
"You forgot one L2 profession," Duo replied with a glint in his eyes and a tight grin.   
  
The man looked confused and bleary. "What's that?"   
  
Duo leaned in very close and said, "Murderer. Are you sure you got my profession right?"   
  
The man searched Duo's face, saw the hard edge there, and then went pale. "Uh, gee, didn't mean nothin'. Just thought... I think I'm going to be sick!" The man rushed off, hand to his mouth.   
  
Duo sneered, turned, and found Heero looking like Death personified. His face was hard and his eyes were the eyes of a killer, almost all pupil under the shadow of his dark brows. "Guess you heard that," Duo chuckled. "It's okay. He was drunk."   
  
"It's not," Heero growled and was suddenly standing very close and looking into Duo's eyes. "He thought that you were my whore. He didn't think that we were a couple. That's not going to happen again."   
  
Heero hooked Duo close with one strong arm and then pulled him into an embrace. There was the rise and fall of surprised voices all around them as Heero cupped Duo's cheek, caressed it, and then bent for a deep and thorough kiss. Duo grabbed him in turn, fisting his dress coat, and holding on to him tightly.   
  
When Heero broke the kiss, a woman said, "About time Yuy found someone." There were chuckles, and some agreement, and then the party resumed.   
  
"Cheesy," Duo snickered and gave Heero's face a light slap, but then he whispered under his breath, "but I liked it."   
  
Heero took Duo's calloused hand in his and pulled him towards the front door. "Let's go."   
  
Duo followed, feeling  relief, but he had to ask, as they retrieved their coats, "A couple? Are you sure?"   
  
"Yes," Heero replied, but then gave Duo a keen, hopeful look as he opened the front door. "I'm not going too fast am I? If you think we need more time..."   
  
"How many years have we been dancing around each other, Heero?" Duo retorted. "Any more 'time' and we'll both be in a retirement home."   
  
Heero smiled and Duo stared.   
  
"What?" Duo prompted as they climbed into Heero's car.   
  
"I never imagined that I would be doing things like this," Heero replied, bemused, as he started up the car and turned up the heater. "Dating, first kisses, presenting the person I care about to my friends... It's almost as if I changed places with someone else."   
  
Duo reached over and squeezed Heero's shoulder. "I don't know the ins and outs of the relationship thing, but you gotta know I... I love you, Heero."   
  
"Duo," Heero looked very intense. "I-" His eyes narrowed and then he said, "Don't move. I'll take care of it."   
  
Duo froze. A voice shouted through his car window, "You think you're a bad ass, cocksucker? I'm taking you out first!"   
  
"The drunk from the party?" Duo wondered with an arched eyebrow. "Friend of yours?"   
  
"No, friend of a friend, I think," Heero replied.   
  
"Shut up! Get out of the car so that I can get a clean shot!" the man shouted.   
  
"Left shoulder," Heero murmured.   
  
"Watch the ear, I like that one," Duo muttered back.   
  
Heero smirked and then, suddenly, he was a blur of motion. Nothing human moved that fast, Duo thought, even as the window shattered and three bullets from Heero's glock went over his shoulder. He ducked and covered his head, safety glass raining down everywhere.   
  
"Dead?" Duo gasped out.   
  
"I shot his gun hand and nicked his forehead to knock him out. He'll live," Heero grunted as he opened his door and went to arrest the man.   
  
Duo cautiously brushed glass out of his hair as he joined Heero. The drunken man was sprawled unconscious, his gun close by on the ground. Duo snickered. "That couldn't kill a cockroach. Do you think he thought he was a tough guy carrying that around?"   
  
"Probably," Heero snorted as he took out his cell phone. He paused and then looked at Duo, pain in his _expression. "I was hoping for a warm evening together. It was wishful thinking, I suppose, to hope that we could have at least a small bit of the normal life that everyone leads."   
  
Duo sighed and then he laughed. "There's an advantage to that though."   
  
"What would that be?" Heero wondered with a frown.   
  
"Instead of needing a councilor and therapy after what just happened, " Duo replied, "We can dump this moron off with Preventers and then go have that nice evening together. Nothings' ruined unless you want it to be."   
  
"I don't," Heero replied, smiling again.   
  
Duo laughed and motioned to Heero's cell phone, "Then hurry up and call, Yuy, so we can get  rid of this guy."   
  
\+   
  
Driving to Duo's apartment, Heero cast several furtive glances towards Duo, who was staring out of the passenger side window. Finally, Heero said softly, "It's all right."   
  
Duo came out of thoughts about work and how his small delivery job was nothing compared to Heero's. Watching the man in his element, directing arresting agents, citing chapter, subchapter, and amendments to all the laws that their attacker had broken, Duo had felt marginal, unimportant, and worse, as if he had run away from a duty that should have been his as well.   
  
"Hm?" was all Duo could find to say.   
  
"Adrenalin makes you think that you can do anything," Heero explained. "Once it runs out, though, we realize that we aren't supermen."   
  
"I should be working for Preventers," Duo blurted, knowing that he had to unburden himself then and there. He needed to know what Heero thought about it, about him not being an agent.   
  
"Should or wish to?" Heero wondered with a frown. "I wished to. I can't imagine a life not working for Preventers."   
  
"I could help a lot of people," Duo replied and twisted the end of his braid in agitation. "I could stop assholes like that guy back there."   
  
Heero snorted. "Isn't that what you just did?"   
  
Duo grimaced. "Not legally."   
  
Heero was quiet for a long moment and then he said, "Preventers has enough trained agents capable of upholding the law and protecting citizens."   
  
Duo stared and then he grinned. "Meaning I shouldn't think so much of myself?"   
  
Heero's eyes sparkled. "We can operate very well without you as an agent."   
  
Duo let out a breath and tried not to think of it as a sigh of relief. "I just want..." he tried to find words.   
  
"To be at peace," Heero finished. "You have earned it, Duo."   
  
"So... delivering packages isn't stupid?" Duo wondered.   
  
"No," Heero replied, but then added carefully, "It's not my place to say, but I  think you have the skills-"   
  
"My peace, my job," Duo said, cutting him off.   
  
Heero chuckled and it was deep, almost a low rumble. "Then it's perfectly all right."   
  
"God, you're sexy when you laugh like that," Duo breathed. The tightness in his pants let him know that his adrenalin rush wasn't gone completely. In fact, as he reached out and gripped Heero's muscled arm, he suddenly found his desire for the man impossible to control.   
  
They came to a stop light. Heero glanced over at Duo and saw the need in his eyes. "Almost there," he promised and Duo heard the same thrum of need in Heero's voice.   
  
Duo looked around them as he shifted his pants. He shivered as he slid his hand up and touched Heero's cheek. He imagined Heero's skin in other places and wondered what it felt like, tasted like, and knew that he needed to find that out as quickly as possible.   
  
"There!" Duo exclaimed as he pointed to a parking garage. "In there?"   
  
"Duo?" Heero sounded uncertain, his face tense. "We don't have anything... your apartment is only ten more blocks."   
  
"In this traffic, that's forever," Duo almost panted and tugged on Heero's lapel. "In there or I'm ripping your clothes off right here."   
  
Heero's jaw hardened. "No."   
  
Duo felt a rush of irritation. "I'm not a kid!" Duo snapped. "You don't have to play violins and roses with me."   
  
Heero reached out and squeezed Duo's hand hard. "Maybe I want to," he replied.   
  
Duo simmered, but Heero refused to pull off the road, even when Duo took his hand and put it over the bulge in his pants. Heero gasped and his hand closed reflexively, but then he was pulling his hand away and frowning in determination.   
  
"You're killing me!" Duo hissed angrily.   
  
"I don't want to remember our first time together in a parking garage!" Heero snarled back.   
  
Duo went cold and he slumped into his seat, face burning with embarrassment. "Sorry," he mumbled.   
  
Heero took a steadying breath. "Duo, we have time. You aren't going to lose me over sex. You are not going to lose me before we have sex. You are not going to lose me, ever."   
  
"Okay, so I'm feeling kind of insecure, but I really do want you right now, Heero," Duo argued.   
  
Heero finally pulled into the parking garage of Duo's apartment. Heero leaned over then and kissed Duo deeply. He broke the kiss and slid out of the car, leaving Duo panting and dizzy with desire. He scrambled after Heero as Heero walked to the elevator.   
  
Inside the elevator, Duo watched the floor numbers light up as they rose, and fidgeted. Heero slipped an arm around his waist. "Almost there," he breathed.   
  
Duo took out his door keys in anticipation."You might want to undo your coat buttons," he warned. "I don't want to pop them when I rip off your clothes."   
  
Heero chuckled, but abruptly ceased when the elevator came to a halt. The lights flickered and then an emergency light came on.   
  
"Back up generator should come on in a sec," Duo assured him.   
  
Nothing happened. Heero used the emergency phone, informed someone on the other end that they were stuck between floors, an then hung up with an irritated scowl. "He said that maintenance is working on the problem and he stressed not to try and get out on our own."   
  
Duo groaned and leaned against a wall. "Proof positive that God hates me."   
  
Heero leaned against the wall beside him and adjusted his pants. "Then he must hate me too," he grumbled.   
  
Duo eyed the small elevator. "No cameras."   
  
Heero crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "They'll have the problem fixed in no time."   
  
"Those guys?" Duo snorted. "They took a week to fix the front door. It was hanging on one hinge. They probably exerted themselves long enough to put an out of order sign on the bottom floor and then went for coffee and some donuts."   
  
"Duo, please relax," Heero begged him. "There's nothing we can do."   
  
Duo suddenly pressed up hard against Heero and looked him in the eyes. "Heero Yuy, if you don't let me get off with you somehow, I am going to hurt in a serious way. It doesn't have to be all the way. Let's just..."   
  
"Rub?"Heero suggested in a strangled voice.   
  
"Blow," Duo said on top of that and then he snickered. "Guess I get the award for being the dirtiest minded."   
  
"No, Heero said as he nuzzled Duo's neck. "I was thinking a lot more than that."   
  
Duo was suddenly predatory. He backed Heero up into a corner and then used both hands to begin unzipping Heero's pants. "Just... Just pretend this isn't our first time," he said softly. "That'll be later. This is ... foreplay..."   
  
"Foreplay," Heero echoed and then groaned as Duo's hands felt his erection.   
  
Duo paused and looked uncertain.   
  
Heero guessed his worry. "Duo... I feel the same way. You aren't..."   
  
"A whore?" Duo bit out and then sighed as his hands began to stroke the silky hot flesh in his hands. "You'll respect me in the morning, right?"   
  
Heero came all at once, jerking and moaning. His come coated Duo's hands. Duo grunted in surprise and then laughed when Heero gasped sheepishly, "Still respect me?"   
  
Duo continued to stroke and Heero stayed hard. "You can redeem yourself," he promised.   
  
Heero swallowed hard as Duo unzipped his own pants and let them down so that his hips were bare. Turning, he stepped back, looking over his shoulder at Heero. They were still mostly dressed. With Duo standing in front of Heero, no one entering the elevator unexpectedly would be able to see what they were doing.   
  
"Screw foreplay," Duo breathed. "I want you."   
  
Heero's calloused hands squeezed his hips and a cool draft caressed his entrance as Heero spread him to reveal it. Those hands trembled. "Duo..."   
  
Duo took out his erection and his dress shirt, letting it drape over his hand. He began to stroke his own erection. He bent, offering himself. "Heero... Now!" he groaned.   
  
Heero's erection, slicked with his own come, rubbed, coating them both thoroughly. When Heero pushed in, Duo hissed and tried to relax. It was uncomfortable, invading, and Duo felt stretched too far. He wanted to pull away, but he forced himself to push back instead. Heero, braced against the wall and pulling Duo's hips back until he was firmly seated, was shaking.   
  
"Love you," Heero whispered. His hands smoothed over Duo's lower back, squeezed his hips, and felt around him until he discovered that Duo was jerking himself off. That was the moment when desire took over and negated any hesitation.   
  
They rode each other. It was an odd mixture of endurance and pleasure for Duo, as he shoved back and Heero slapped in and out of him, causing a maddening friction that made his nerves overload with pleasure. He came quickly, bending over almost to the floor as he shot come into his shirt and hand. A wetness down his legs and a hissed exclamation of pleasure, told him that Heero had come a second time.   
  
Heero pulled out, his erection giving his hypersensitive nerves a final, erotic rub before he was empty and dripping. Heero turned him as Duo pulled up his pants and struggled numbly to put himself back into his clothes. Heero kissed him, ravished his lips, and then sighed as he cupped his cheek.   
  
"We're not done," Heero promised him. "When we get out of here, I'm going to make love to you."   
  
Duo grinned. "It'll be a hell of a lot easier now that we can think with something other than our-"   
  
The elevator jerked into motion.   
  
"Shit!" Heero swore and began trying to pull up and zip his pants.   
  
Duo felt the zipper close on his skin and his sleeve. He howled and tried to pull away, but found himself firmly latched onto Heero's crotch. Heero's hands fumbled as he tried to unzip Duo and himself.   
  
The doors to the elevator opened and maintenance men were standing outside. Duo was facing Heero and Heero looked tensely over his shoulder, swallowing hard.   
  
"Should we come back?" one of the maintenance men asked in disgust.   
  
Duo cleared his throat and pulled Heero with him as he bundled them both into Heero's coat and made their way out of the elevator and between the men. "No thanks," he returned airily. "All done."   
  
At the door of Duo's apartment, Heero was still vainly trying to free Duo. "I've never been so-"   
  
"No?" Duo snickered. "I've had worse happen."   
  
"When?" Heero grumbled as Duo opened the door and they stumbled inside. Closing the door and locking it, they stood, face to face, while Heero continued to work at the zipper.   
  
"Uh," Duo ducked his head and watched Heero's strong hands work. "I was jerking off against a communal shower stall on Howard's barge. I didn't realize that Howard and a bunch of his guys had come in. They called me little firecracker for months afterward."   
  
Heero chuckled, the tension easing from him.   
  
"Heero?" Duo said, becoming serious.   
  
"Duo?"   
  
"That was... really good," Duo said, unsure.   
  
Heero looked up as the zipper finally released Duo. His warm smile told Duo all that he needed to know. "I would have chosen a better place," Heero replied, "but I think I'm going to remember you, and how wonderful you were... not the place."   
  
Duo smiled back and leaned against him. "This is for real then? Not just... getting off?"   
  
"You didn't stalk me all of this time just for sex?" Heero wondered, amused.   
  
Duo laughed. "No. I had a lot more on my mind than that. I was thinking about how much I admired you, respected you, and how much I loved you. I kept thinking that I didn't have a chance, though, so I guess that's why sex never came up."   
  
Heero released Duo and moved to Duo's small sound system. He chose an easy listening tune and then lowered the lights until they were a warm glow.   
  
"Shouldn't I be doing that?" Duo wondered with a smirk. "It is my place."   
  
"You had your way already," Heero replied. "Now I want my way."   
  
Duo rubbed the back of his neck. "Since my way was having hot sex in an elevator, and then getting completely humiliated, I think I'll follow your lead this time."   
  
"Good," Heero chuckled. He turned to Duo and undid his tie."First we shower. Then we have something light to drink. Afterward, we..." he eyed the apartment, "pull out the bed and make love."  
  
The phone rang as Heero undid the buttons of Duo's coat. He took the phone out of Duo's pocket and tossed it aside. It opened as it bounced on the couch and Quatre's voice could be heard faintly saying, "Duo? Duo? You were supposed to call me and tell me how it went!"   
  
Trowa's voice sounded very faintly, "Come to bed , Quatre. Leave Duo's life to Duo."   
  
"But... Oh... Trowa...," Quatre breathed   
  
"As you can see, I need you more than Duo. Come to bed," Trowa urged.   
  
Heero leaned over the couch and turned the cell off with a grimace.   
  
"I feel like a voyeur," Duo said in disgust, but then leered as he caught Heero's hand and pulled him toward the promised shower.   
  
"We have time," Heero said softly as he caught Duo around the waist and held him. "Don't hurry. Slow. We're making love."   
  
"Love," Duo agreed. "Lots of time."   
  
"The rest of our lives," Heero promised and kissed him passionately.  
  
END


End file.
